As Good as a Comedy and Paddy McGann are two short novels that
reveal Simms’s talents as a comedic writer. While other works, like Border
Beagles, contain humorous sections or characters, these two works stand out
as sustained comedic successes. In these, Simms shows an understanding of
and skill at utilizing the tropes of frontier humor, popularized by the likes
of A.B. Longstreet’s Georgia Scenes, as well as a use of humor as
social commentary that foreshadowed the work of Twain. While each was
published previously, they were published together in one volume in 1972, ...